Tacoma Salmon Charters

Commencement Bay opener in area 11 was off to a slow start on 8-1-11 but is improving each day with more Pinks/Humpies  and Hatchery Chinook showing up in most of the local reports. The big fun starts when the Humpies congregate along the shore and can be caught with ultra light tackle casting  pink lures or trolling white or chrome flashers and dodgers with pink lures. Limit is four per person per day.

Crabbing opener  count was great with limits of 5 per person but has declined  due to the over crabbing by the tribes and the large number of  recreational crabbers.  I will continue scouting and

As you know (and even if you don’t) I have been working withQwest Business to get social media upand running for my small business. For the last 2 months I have had a coach to help me to not only learn the basics of blogging, Facebook, and Twitter, but to guide me along the path of understanding what social media is all about. The best part is that is was all free. All I had to do was blog about my experience in the program. Before I got to her, I worked with Qwest to build this blogsite. They had me customize all of my colors and fonts to set it up how I liked it – which is always a good thing. When I got to my coach, I was not really too familiar with any of these platforms.

After the first couple of calls to get an overview of all ofthe social media tools that Qwest had set me up with, my coach and Iwent out to find a following. Of course we went to my own network first and got the word out to my Facebook friends and all of my email contacts. We saw a handful of people come through, but we needed to expand our horizons. Thus, we went to some of my other Facebook friends to if they could recruit some people to my Facebook page. We didn’t getto 25, but we are well on our way. Another thing we practiced was networking with other businesses online by liking their page and writing on their wall.It’s always good to let others know that you appreciate them, not to mentiongetting some exposure to their followers. There is definitely a lot of maintenance involved in social media. Since time with my coach has come to anend, hopefully I can keep this up even with all of the insanity of my fishing trips!

Good news ! More Big Chinook  Salmon have been showing up at the traditional Point Defiance and Dalco holes than at any time since the opening day on June 1st. Most of the larger Salmon have been Wild Chinook and were released back into the water.  Hatchery Fin Clipped Chinook have been averaging 10 t0 12 pounds, so with both types showing up in better numbers it probably means the game has finally begun for the summer run  Salmon Season. Game On !

Additionally, a few Coho and a few Pinks/ Humpies are showing up at the Boat launches where WDFW checkers are keeping count, so if the daily catch includes Humpies/Pinks, we can keep a total of four Salmon per person.

Crab catches have improved also with pots dropped at non traditional hot spots where tribes have not yet trapped the bulk of the adult male Dungeness Crabs.  Remember to purchase a Shellfish license WITH a Puget Sound Endorsement in order to stay legal and avoid stiff fines.

I am starting afternoon 4 hour trips early this year in order to get as many fishers on the water as possible. I usually wait until August 1st when Commencement Bay opens.

Jerry

So, it has been more than a month with my Qwest blog coach and we are still improving things as we go! Every time we talk we make sure to check on Facebook to see if any more people have liked the page and maybe look into what people can suggest our page to their friends to hit that 25 mark! Then we go check up on Twitter and our mentions as we talked about before. Hopefully we will be able to do more networking on the site than previously. As we get more followers, it can get us more clout online. Then we can try and double the work of Twitter through reaching out to local media. It’s definitely worth a shot!

A step that my coach and I took forward this week was looking into email. Now this sounds like something extremely basic, but it is definitely an avenue that doesn’t get though about much. We decided that it would great to use an email signature to promote our social media. If you think about it, everyone is using email constantly and don’t think about how to truly use that to their benefit. After some help from my blog coach and a little googling, all of my emails will now list all of the links to my blog, Facebook page, and Twitter. This will not only increase awareness for my business, but hopefully get me more blog readers, likes, and followers! The weekly calls with my
coach are always a learning experience and we try to make it fun.
Thanks again Qwest for all of the help!

Captain Jerry

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been involved with Qwest and their social media program and I keep learning more things by the minute. Of course in the beginning, they set me up with a blog, Facebook page, and Twitter page – and they connected all of them to make it easier for me to use! Now that we are past the basics of all of these, we are looking at other ways to promote the business. For instance, we are trying to get 25 likes on our Facebook page so that we can have a shorter, cleaner website so all of you can get to our page easier! No one likes to type all of those letters and numbers at the end! If you’re reading this, help us get to that 25 by clicking here.
As far as Twitter goes, our followers keep increasing which is always good. Whenever we log in the first thing we do is check our Twitter mentions (basically like tags in pictures and posts on Facebook for all of those unfamiliar). These are the people who are talking to us and about us on the social networking site. Since this is still in its start up phase, we are getting a lot of people thanking us for following them. Who knew something so simple could be worthy of thanks? Otherwise, it’s great to be able to network with these people online. I’m so glad I am able to get all of these services for free from Qwest just in return for blogging about my opinion of the
program. Thanks!

Captain Jerry

I have been procrastinating this weeks blog waiting for a better report but it is what it is!

Opening day Crab limits were the norm  but dwindled to an average of 2 per licensed crabber the next few days.  I will try some areas where the Tribal pots have not appeared lately and maybe the population is better.

July Salmon Catching has been dismal for most of the boats and fishers checked in at the Tacoma Point Defiance Boat Launch,  except for a very few big Chinook in the 23 to 34 pound range.   A 25 pound Chinook was caught this PM by a friend of mine, so I know the big ones are arriving slowly but surely.

Area 10 at the North end of Vashon Island has been producing limits, so the fish are heading this way and should be here in better numbers by this week end or early next week. It can happen overnight too as the Island is only 15 miles long. Hatchery fin clipped Chinook are 50% of the reported catch, leaving the other 50% of “wild” salmon a catch and release fishery.

Spiny Dogfish Shark are abundant and a nuisance when we are using Herring for bait as they are drawn by the scent of blood and interfere with Salmon Fishing, so metal jigs or trolled lures seem to be most efficient. A few jiggers have caught Chinook at the “Clay Banks” too.  Not very many boats are on the water any day this week.  All that will change when more positive catch reports are published in the Tribune News Paper.

Captain Jerry

In 1982, I became disenchanted with the direction of the International company that I was employed by, and had experienced 14 years of good times and several management promotions. While I needed a change I left without a solid plan as to my career choices, which included about 10 different paths. Fishing seemed to offer the most interesting of opportunities.

I decided to devote one year to the new business, win loose or draw. Luckily I found a Salmon charter License that was in short supply, as none had been issued by the State since 1970. I studied for and passed the Coast Guard Exam for my Masters License in order operate a vessel  for hire. Obtaining the documents were required prior to obtaining Liability Insurance, business License, and Commercial Moorage.

Long story short, 28 years later I am still having the best time of my life, and feel privileged to be doing something that many others only dream of doing.

So, thanks to all of my supporter, family, friends, clients, and suppliers of critical services that keep me in business.

–Captain Jerry Skeen, 100 Ton Licence to master

Recently, I had  been curious about the Bundled package from Qwest and called to obtain some details of the Core Connect program. I have been a Qwest Business customer for the last 28 years and have been pleased with Qwest services, so as I reviewed my phone usage and costs, I was immediately interested in the increased capability which included  land line long distance, internet connection, web site with  sitebuilder tools to design my own site, email connection, and coaching to help me get started.

I had previously used directory advertising and web hosting from a company that has “dropped the ball” on service, so I went looking and Qwest appears to offer a complete package for me at an extremely low cost compared to the other service. Everyone that I have dealt with has been helpful and patient with my learning process, and has nudged me in the right choices for my business. I am glad I made the call to Qwest.

We are currently developing my social media connections to complement my new web site . I’m getting these services in return for blogging about my experience in the program. Please visit my site and feel free to comment. Amanda is my coach and mentor on this phase of my new marketing program, and has been very helpful and instructive to the beginner that I am. With her help I expect to become much more capable in social media marketing.

Hello!

I’m Captain Jerry, and I’ve been doing salmon charters since 1983! I’ve spent my entire career serving the Tacoma area.

Dave Peterson on a salmon fishing trip

Stay tuned for more updates about our future charters!

-Captain Jerry